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382

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Sources: European Parliament (2009, 2014b)

.

Figure 7 Percentage of co-decision files adopted at 1st, 2nd or 3rd reading

in Figure 7). Between 2009 and 2014, the percentage of early

agreements peaked at 85%, indicating that since the Treaty of

Lisbon came into force, 85% of the time, when the ordinary

legislative procedure was applied, it was the chair of the relevant

Council Working Party and the chair of COREPER who evaluated

the possibility of an agreement, made contact, and launched

negotiations with the EP (Kirpsza, 2013: 195).

In a Council composed of 28 member states, it is

understandable that, from the view point of Council presidencies

eager to accomplish more during their six-month terms, informal

decision-making through trilogues would be preferred over formal

channels. Not only does early input from the EP facilitate

consensus-building within the Council, but negotiations during first

reading are also more flexible (as they lack a fixed time limit

imposed by the Treaty of Lisbon) than are later stages of the

procedure (European Parliament, 2009: 11-12, 2014a: 5). Such

efficiency, however, is gained at the expense of transparency and